Pendennis

As Tony and Cherie Blair prepare their respective autobiographies comes news of a third authoritative book on the former Prime Minister. John Burton - a great friend and political ally of Tony's, often described as his mentor, who was his political agent in Sedgefield from his first election in 1983 and is now vice-president of the Tony Blair Sports Foundation - is to write his own volume, focusing on the hottest topic of the moment for Blair-watchers: his faith.

The line Burton will take, according to friends, will cause shockwaves since, contrary to increasingly frenzied rumours, he believes Blair has no intention of converting to the Catholic faith of his wife and children. 'John knows Tony better than anyone except his immediate family,' I'm told. 'And he speaks to him all the time about faith as much as politics. He plans to interview him for the book, of course, and says it is simply not going to happen. He says there's no point.'

This will be a relief to many in the Catholic community who believe that much of the legislation passed under Blair is incompatible with Catholicism and that if he converted it would send out confusing messages about the demands of living a Catholic life.

When Burton's book is published next year, we'll know at least whether the latest rumours of a Christmas conversion are indeed untrue. But whatever happens, his insights into the private motivations of his old friend will be among the most valuable ever provided. 'He's also obviously a mine of fascinating information on every aspect of Tony's life,' adds my source. 'And his loyalty won't make this any the less interesting.'

Burton has a co-writer in the shape of Sedgefield journalist Eileen McCabe and the book is to be brought out by Continuum, where publisher Robin Baird-Smith confirms it's on the cards, but declines to discuss content.

How to make a present tense

Lib Dem leadership hopeful Chris Huhne, complained to the police about the Labour donations scandal. However, his strong feelings on the subject of who should be allowed to donate to political parties has not prevented him from accepting funding for his campaign from Paul and Eve Strasburger, who have given £5,000 each. This is the same Paul Strasburger who is the Lib Dem's second biggest donor and was reported in March to be providing some funding for the legal case of the party's most generous benefactor, Michael Brown. Brown has since been imprisoned for perjury.

'Nobody is suggesting anything's wrong with Strasburger,' says my source. 'But you'd have thought Chris would want to avoid Brown's name being mentioned at all, so it's a bit odd.'

Meanwhile, another of Huhne's backers is his father. How sweet.

Lily meets her Waterloo

A refreshingly angelic turn from Lily Allen, last week, who slipped away after presenting a gong at the British Comedy awards rather than staying late to get drunk with her father, Keith. Now a friend of the singer tells of another recent bout of good behaviour when Allen was hired to play a farewell gig at Waterloo station before the Eurostar terminal moved to King's Cross last month.

'She was staying at the Waterloo Marriot and the inevitable happened and the neighbours complained. Only, rather than indulging in any rock'n'roll behaviour, the noise turned out to be Lily and her band rehearsing in one of their bedrooms.'

And all for the cause. The organisers had asked her to sing 'Waterloo Sunset' and she wanted to practise.

The play's not the thing for Hugh

Hugh Grant, turned up on Wednesday night to lend his name to the campaign to save Wilton's Music Hall in east London, though it's not entirely clear why. 'I hate the theatre,' he told me at the fundraising party for the world's oldest surviving music hall. 'The last time I went was about 15 years ago. I'm sure it's very good fun for the actors, it's just not very interesting for the audience.' And is there anything he feels he can do to save Wilton's? 'No.'

Des not mentioned in dispatches

Things get worse for our 'part-time' defence secretary Des Browne, who doubles up as Scottish secretary. During last week's carol service in aid of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association in the Guards' Chapel, compere Jimmy Tarbuck name-checked all the visiting 'celebrities', Prince Michael of Kent, top military brass and even the commercial sponsors. Unfortunately, he didn't find time to mention Browne, who was also there. It could have been an oversight, but it's unfortunate timing for the cabinet minister, currently suffering from the bad relations between various military figures - who see his double role as an indication that the armed forces are regarded as unimportant - and the government. It has also emerged that his cabinet salary (£75,963 on top of his MP's wage) is funded from the defence budget, rather than being split with the Scotland Office, causing more furious muttering about under-funded forces.

Bailey loses the faith

Following my story last week on the 'hiatus' (according to the Labour party) in setting up their faith task force, a fundraising and policy organisation, the man due to be its chairman, colourful PR exec and Labour donor Anthony Bailey, has removed the position from the long list of exciting titles on his website. Is this a sign the hiatus is due to continue?

Othello and Sleeping Beauty

Othello at the Donmar Warehouse is the hottest ticket in the West End - £29 seats are selling for up to £600 each on eBay. Long queues form for matinee seats, with some people sleeping on the pavement overnight. So did Lord (Chris) Smith, former culture secretary and now chairman of the Donmar Warehouse, enjoy the show from his seat in the front row of the centre stalls on Tuesday's opening night? 'I definitely saw his head dropping, eyes closed, at least twice,' says another audience member.

Compose yourself

Artistic flurries at the British Composer awards last week. Britain's leading minimalist, Michael Nyman, nominated for the Radio 3 Listeners' award for A Handshake in the Dark, walked out. 'Dragged all the way here and I don't even win. I'm off,' he was heard to say as he swept out. His latest work, for the Great North Run, is entitled 50,000 Pairs of Feet Can't Be Wrong. Perhaps that should now be 50,001 pairs of feet.

Talk about orchestral manoeuvres

Pity the junior officials in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs who, as a result of last week's story in this column about the hold-up in sending out vital forms for touring musicians to claim their wages abroad, have had a 'solution' imposed on them. Readers may remember that HMRC was prohibited from sending out E101 forms (which prove that the musicians pay national insurance in the UK) to orchestras and choirs. Such personal data was not allowed to be dispatched in one package while a 'review of internal security procedures' was carried out. As a result, no forms at all were sent.

Now they've been told they should dispatch them - but with each one in an individual envelope. 'When you think that some touring orchestras are made up of hundreds of musicians, this works out more expensive, more time-consuming and, no doubt, means there is more chance that at least one form will get lost,' says my musical source, while admitting to being pleased that there's now a chance of being paid by a foreign impresario before Christmas.